Strange political bedfellows unite on black carbon

Erika Rosenthal, an Earthjustice attorney in Washington, is a specialist in international environmental law who has worked with the United Nations, World Bank, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Security. (McClatchy-Tribune)

Barbara Boxer of California and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts are two of the Senate's greenest members, consistent champions of efforts to fight global warming. James Inhofe of Oklahoma is the Senate's chief global warming skeptic. But on Earth Day, this unlikely trio, along with Tom Carper of Delaware, introduced a bill directing the Environmental Protection Agency to study a dangerous pollutant that kills millions worldwide and accelerates global warming, particularly in the Arctic.

No, not carbon dioxide, which remains the main cause of global warming. The target of the bill is black carbon, commonly known as soot.

Black carbon warms the atmosphere by absorbing sunlight. When it falls in the Arctic, it causes ice and snow to melt faster. In the United States and Europe, soot comes from diesel engines and agricultural crop burning; in the developing world, the major sources are home heating and cooking fires. In just the last two years, scientists have found that soot may be responsible for up to half of the rapid melting of Arctic ice and snow. (For a two-minute black carbon primer, visit www.stopsoot.org.

On May 19, the Boxer-Kerry-Inhofe-Carper bill passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee by unanimous consent. But the senators aren't the only ones concerned.

A House bill, by Jay Inslee of Washington, Mike Honda of California and Peter Welch of Vermont, calls on the EPA to take "immediate action" to control black carbon emissions. In a speech last month, Nobel Prize laureate and former vice president Al Gore called on the world to curb black carbon by burning less diesel and wood. And the eight nations of the Arctic Council, including the United States, have just adopted a declaration urging "early action" on black carbon and other "short-lived climate forcers" such as methane.

Short-lived is key here. Carbon dioxide, from automobile exhaust and other sources, stays in the atmosphere for decades, so cuts in carbon-dioxide emissions could take a relatively long time to reverse warming trends. Black carbon, on the other hand, stays in the atmosphere for only days or weeks, so reducing emissions will have an immediate cooling effect. Deep and immediate cuts in carbon dioxide are still urgently necessary, but quick action on black carbon will buy valuable time for the Arctic, forestalling global warming tipping points such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

The good news is that technologies to reduce black carbon are here today. The United States has already significantly reduced diesel emissions, which account for about a third of global black carbon pollution, but can go further by retrofitting old trucks and requiring ships to use cleaner fuels. President Barack Obama's budget made a good start by allocating new funds to incentivize voluntary diesel retrofits.

For the developing world, clean-burning stoves are available for as little as $10 a household. Charitable projects to supply stoves are under way, but the United States and Europe can speed progress by increasing aid. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should direct the State Department and Agency for International Development to ramp up financing and technology transfer to reduce black carbon emissions in the developing world. Even in the current recession, there can be no greater priority for sustainable development, the Arctic and the global community.

And cutting black carbon will not only buy time for the Arctic, but also improve health dramatically at home and abroad. From the smoggy suburbs of Los Angeles to rural villages in India and China, soot is a major cause of respiratory and heart disease, estimated to be responsible for 1.6 million deaths a year worldwide.

International law requires nations to ensure that their activities do not damage the environment beyond their borders. Arctic Council nations have a special responsibility to take immediate action on black carbon because atmospheric currents carry soot pollution emitted in these countries directly north to the Arctic, and because increased melting in the Arctic threatens all of humanity.

In the 21st century, the ability to tackle climate change is the litmus test for the effectiveness of such international bodies as the Arctic Council. Sharp cuts in carbon dioxide are still job one. But we now know that reducing carbon dioxide alone is not enough. To preserve the Arctic -- and the planet -- requires faster climate cooling, which can be achieved by rapid action to reduce black carbon. We can't wait.

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